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Co-operative Development Scotland

John Swinney MSP
First Minister of Scotland
St Andrew's House
Regent Road
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG

Dear First Minister,

During the passage of the Community Wealth Building (Scotland) Bill, several MSPs raised substantive concerns regarding the future of Co-operative Development Scotland (CDS) and its capacity to fulfil its role in advancing democratic business models across Scotland.

As was highlighted during both Stage 2 and Stage 3 proceedings, CDS is currently operating with extremely limited staffing and resource. Comparisons were drawn with co-operative development infrastructure in Wales, which demonstrates a far greater scale of commitment to growing the co-operative economy.

Community wealth building depends not only on procurement reform and partnership working but on active development of alternative ownership models. Co-operatives are uniquely placed to retain wealth locally, embed fair work principles and distribute surplus within communities. However, ambition in legislation must be matched by institutional capacity.

While it was noted that CDS operates within Scottish Enterprise and therefore does not possess separate legal personality, this structural fact does not negate the policy concern: that co-operative development in Scotland lacks:

• Dedicated and visible institutional leadership
• Sufficient staffing and advisory capacity
• A clear statutory mandate
• Transparent reporting on outcomes and growth targets

We therefore call on the Scottish Government to:

1. Conduct an urgent review of the resourcing and remit of Co-operative Development Scotland.
2. Commit to increasing staffing and advisory capacity to levels commensurate with international best practice.
3. Consider granting CDS a clearer statutory footing or defined statutory functions within forthcoming economic legislation.
4. Publish an annual report detailing the number of co-operatives supported, resources allocated, and growth targets and outcomes.

If community wealth building is to succeed as a transformational economic model, co-operative development must be placed at its heart.

We would welcome a meeting to discuss how Government and Parliament can work constructively to ensure that Scotland develops a robust and ambitious co-operative economy.

Yours sincerely,